The Legend of Spyro: Darkness Falls
by Drake Dragonsoul
Summary: Cynder seeks a way to sever the Dark Master's hold over her, when a strange creature appears at the temple and tells her that it might be possible, it almost seems too good to be ture, or is it? Sequal to The Legend of Spyro:The Gathering Storm
1. In the Shadows

Disclaimer: I don't own the Spyro series, just several characters of my own creation.

Chapter 1

In the Shadows

The shadowed figure of the Dark Master watched emotionlessly from the shard of black crystal as the baboons threw down the large body. The dead creature was a mixture of white fur and black scales, its muzzle part dragon, part baboon, and a small pair of wings sprouted from its back.

"Another failure," Edord scowled from the ledge that he was laying on, his arm propping his head up. "This is a waste of time!"

The Dark Master turned his red eyes on the small dragonfly. "You should learn when to keep your mouth shut."

"My apologies," the dark dragonfly looked a little nervous. "But I think we should be trying to force the dragons out of the islands before they have time to reestablish a firm hold on them. Perhaps if we deliver enough defeats to them, they will get too demoralized to fight and they will retreat back to Dark Pines."

"We no longer have Cynder to lead our forces," the Dark Master growled, glaring at the baboons. "It would just be the same as before, the dragons would win. We need something more powerful, something that can match the mighty dragons themselves."

The Dark Master glanced back at the dead creature. At least, it had lived longer then the others and they were getting further and further in the process, soon he'd be ready…

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Cynder hung her head as she stalked down the hallway. The group of chattering dragonesses behind her where the reason for her sour mood. As she had passed, they had stopped talking and stared at her as if she was going to attack them on the spot.

Why couldn't they believe that she wasn't still under the Dark Master's spell? She shivered. Maybe she still was. The demon still haunted her dreams and she couldn't remember her last night of uninterrupted sleep.

Pyris was beginning to worry about her, not that she knew what her nightmares were about. Cynder hadn't told anyone about the dreams, not even Spyro, who she had grown rather close to.

Cynder stopped and entered the room that she shared with her sister. The red dragoness was there, nipping a few dead bugs off one of several plants that she had growing from pots on the floor, or hanging on the wall.

Pyris looked up at her sister, concern flashing in her eyes at seeing her sister's sad expression.

Cynder flopped down on her stomach on the floor, resting her head on her paws. She could see that Pyris wanted to ask her if she was okay, but her sister already knew the answer and went back to tending her plants.

Cynder's eyelids drooped and she soon gave into her exhaustion and was sound asleep.

The darkness of sleep had barely claimed her, when she found herself standing on the edge of the floating rock of Convexity. The nightmarish shadow was once again calmly walking towards her, its red mouth parted in an evil grin.

Cynder hissed at him, mustering as much courage as she could. "Don't you have anything better to do then to torment me?"

The Dark Master's smirk widened. He had caught the tone of terror in the dragoness' voice. "As a matter of fact no."

Before Cynder could react, the Dark Master's arm shot out growing impossibly long and then dragged her back toward him, retracting to its normal length.

His grip tightened, squeezing the air out of her lungs. She found herself looking at the demon's face and could smell his putrid breath. "You should come back to me, Cynder. We both know that you'll never fit in with the dragons and you'll never have another good night of sleep as long as you live."

He raised his other hand, each of his fingers growing into wicked looking claws. Cynder's eyes widened in fear.

"Wake up!" Cynder jumped to her feet, glancing around with wide eyes. She was back in her room, she gasped trying to clam down. Pyris was standing a few away with wide eyes.

"It was just a nightmare…" Cynder gasped. He glanced up and noticed that Pyris was staring at her, her eyes wide with fear. Cynder glanced at her side, seeing the four large red slash marks in her scales and the blood dripping from them onto the ground. She stumbled and then her legs gave way all together and she fell back to the floor unconscious.


	2. Trust

Disclaimer: I don't own Spyro the Dragon, or anything assorted with it, except for the concept of this fic and some of the characters.

Chapter 2

Trust

"I'm fine," Cynder said again, as the medic finished wrapping the bandages around her.

After Cynder had fainted, Pyris had called for help. Spyro and Sparx had happened to be passing by. Sparx had gone off to tell the medic, while Spyro and her made a makeshift stretcher out of a blanket and dragged her most of the way to the area of the temple that was the medical ward.

"Are you sure?" Spyro asked.

The medic, a huffy yellow electric dragoness growled. "I'm the medic, you should be asking me if she's going to be okay, not the patient. And she's going to be fine."

"Oh," Spyro blinked, feeling as though he had just been slapped.

"How did this happen anyway?" the electric dragon asked.

Cynder glanced at the floor. "I don't know," she lied.

"You don't know?" the medic repeated. "What did you just wake up and had several large scratch marks on your side?"

Cynder didn't answer and her attention stayed on the floor. The medic frowned, but stepped back finished with the bandaging and ordered the youngsters out of the room, instructing Cynder to get plenty of rest. The black dragoness couldn't but chuckle mentally at that statement. She doubted that sleep would come easily to her.

Spyro waited until they were safely out of hearing distance of the medic before he asked. "So what did happen?" Pyris looked over at her, clearly wanting to hear the answer as well.

Cynder looked over at them. She might have told them, but Sparx was still hovering above them. "I can't tell you…"

Spyro glanced up at the hovering dragonfly having caught the way that Cynder had looked at him. Sparx immediately took the hint and flew off down the hall. "I've got to go see a gnome about an apartment. Living in this temple is like living in a church."

He glanced back over at her. The three friends stopped and faced each other and Cynder found herself still hesitating to tell them. What would they think if she told them that she was having such strange dreams, dreams that could cause her actual harm?

Spyro and Pyris glanced at each other, realizing that she still was hesitant to tell them.

Pyris stepped up to her sister. "Listen, we're not going to judge you like those others would, we're your friends and I'm your sister."

Cynder nodded and reluctantly started to explain. "I dreamed that I was back in Convexity. He was there and he slashed me with his claws."

"But how could that have hurt you?" Spyro asked. He looked at her, genuinely feeling scared for her safety.

"The Dark Master isn't exactly bounded by the normal rules of reality," Cynder said. She looked at Spyro. "Have you had any dreams about him at all?"

The purple dragon shook his head. Cynder sighed. If Spyro could fight off the Dark Master's hold, why couldn't she? The three of them turned and continued back toward Cynder's and Pyris' room.

Spyro left them there and headed toward his room. He shook his head. He had thought that he'd broken the Dark Master's hold on Cynder. He stepped into his room and curled up in the nest that served as his bed.

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Ignitus yawned and looked up at the door to his room, a quiet knock was sounding against it. The darkness in the room confirmed it was still the dead of night. He stood up and breathed a small stream of fire, igniting the candles on his nightstand. Another stream of fire, opened the door.

The medic dragon, Medrin, was standing there, looking sour as always. She didn't seem tired, compared to the sleepy fire guardian. Ignitus wondered what could be so important or secretive that she had to wake him in the middle of the night.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Cynder visited me today," she said. "She had four large scratches on her side. She didn't tell me what did it, but they looked like animal claws, only no animal that I know of."

Ignitus stared at her. His sleepy mind trying to understand what this meant. The Dark Master had claws, was it possible that he had found a way to hurt Cynder, from within his prison?

"I didn't want to tell you in the morning cause I didn't want anyone overhearing," Medrin explained. "The poor girl already has enough people distrusting her because of her past. I expect you'll do what you can."

Ignitus nodded. "Don't worry I will."

Medrin nodded and turned and left. Ignitus yawned and subconsciously added. _In the morning._

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Cynder hadn't been able to sleep at all. She was too afraid that the Dark Master would attack her again and so she had went for a walk. The fog didn't bother her, she had been through worse things then a little mist.

She stopped for a moment and inhaled the crisp jungle air. The air carried the scent of several flowers. She halted as she heard the sound of an animal grunting. An animal that she was very familiar with.

She ducked into a tangle of bushes as the sound came closer. Soon three small baboons had emerged from the fog. Cynder couldn't help but wonder what they were doing so close to the temple. They couldn't possibly be thinking of attacking it?

The leader turned back to his followers. They glanced around and Cynder ducked down. She looked back up and saw the leader drop something and then they turned and fled back the way they had came.

Cynder cautiously crept out of the bushes, her senses alert for a trap as she approach the object that had been dropped. It was white-colored, not much bigger then Sparx, and bleeding!


	3. First Aid

Disclaimer: I don't own Spyro the Dragon, or any of its assorted characters, just the characters I have created for this story.

Chapter 3

First Aid

Cynder rushed over to the bleeding creature. She looked down at it, several bruises covered its soft white skin, and blood oozed from several cuts. The creature looked similar to a dragon except that it was covered in soft skin rather then hard scales, it lacked a long neck and had two antennae on its head. Two pink butterfly-like wings sprouted from its back.

She bent down and carefully scooped the creature up in her jaws. She turned and then leapt into the air. Her powerful wing beats carried her out of the trees and into the sky. She quickly turned and swooped back toward the temple.

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Ignitus was out on one of the temples balconies, glancing around and breathing in the fresh air, when Cynder dropped out of the sky. The elder was about to ask her where she had been, when he noticed the bloody creature in her mouth.

Setting the creature down carefully, she looked back up at the fire guardian. "I was out for a walk and I ran across some of those baboons, they dropped this." Cynder explained, gesturing to the odd creature.

"All right," Ignitus said. "Let's get it to Medrin."

Cynder leaned down and scooped it up again, following Ignitus as he lead the way to the medic's chambers.

Medrin was still asleep when they got there. Ignitus roused her and she immediately got to work on the small scrap of flesh, after telling Cynder to wait because when she had flown back to the temple, flapping her wings had partially torn open her own wounds again.

Cynder waited for what felt like forever, acutely aware of the pain in her side, that she hadn't noticed until Medrin had pointed it out to her.

"You don't suppose that thing is a trap?" Ignitus asked, glancing down at her.

Cynder blinked up at him, a questioning expression on her face. "Why ask me?"

"You know the Dark Master and his troops, probably better then any of us," Ignitus said. "And you were his highest general, surely you didn't get such a position because of your looks."

Glancing down at her feet, Cynder wondered if that was true, or if it was just some change in her from the Dark Master's magic. "Those baboons of his were always pretty sadistic, but I find it hard to believe that it was just coincidence that they happened to drop something that we haven't ever seen before almost on our doorstep."

Ignitus nodded. "Still we have to take care of it, until it's better."

There was a short period of silence and then Ignitus asked. "What made those wounds?"

Cynder focused her attention on her front feet. She was afraid to tell Ignitus about the dreams she was having. What if he decided to exile her? She banished the thought from her mind. Ignitus wouldn't do anything like that, he had already allowed her to come back after she had been returned to normal.

"I had a dream and in it-," she hesitated, glancing up at Ignitus to see what his reaction would be.

"Go on," he encouraged.

She nodded and continued. "The Dark Master was there. He slashed my side with those claws of his and when I woke up. The wounds were there. I've had dreams like this before, where he tries to get me to rejoin his side and then hurts me, but this is the first time any of it has affected me in real life."

Cynder hadn't looked up at all while she spoke. She did as she finished and was relieved to see that Ignitus was gazing at her sympathetically, rather then with anger, or distrust.

"I'd never go back to him of my own free will though," she added hastily.

"I know," Ignitus replied. "There are a few dragons that know a bit about this sort of magic, I will ask them to see if they can help."

Cynder nodded gratefully. "Thank you."

A few minutes later, Medrin called them into the room. The white creature was heavily bandage and lying on a blanket that was much too large for it. Medrin immediately shoved Cynder into the center of the room and got to work on stitching her side.

"How badly hurt was it?" Ignitus asked, looking at the curled up animal.

"Very badly," Medrin replied, without glancing up from Cynder. "I'm no vet, but I would say it was very near death."

Cynder glanced over at the creature. If it was a spy for the Dark Master it had certainly went through a lot of punishment to make sure that they'd think it was innocent.


	4. The Date

Author's Note: No, I was not in a coma, prison, or a foreign country and I obviously wasn't dead.

Disclaimer: I don't own Spyro the Dragon, or the series assorted characters.

Chapter 4

The Date… Or Not

Cynder wasn't too fond of the wizard's so called magic. She knew quite a bit about the Dark Master's magic and she didn't think that incense, or dream catchers were going to work and her room was starting to smell funny.

Their mysterious patient had recovered quite well, but hadn't regained consciousness yet. Medrin had said that the creature unconsciously hissed and growled while it slept and Cynder, who felt somewhat responsible for it, was beginning to wonder if it was even sentient.

Five days after she had found the creature, she was out for a walk to get away from her room and the strong smell of the incense. She wished there was some better way to occupy her time then to just wonder around. Perhaps she could offer to help the Guardians with war strategies or something? After all she knew everything there was to know about the Dark Master's army.

The black dragoness decided she'd do that the next chance she got to talk to Ignitus.

"Hey, Cynder!" she turned and saw Spyro walking towards her, breaking away from Crystalis and Sparx.

"Hi, Spyro," Cynder greeted.

The purple dragon took a moment to shout a good-bye over his shoulder at Sparx and Crystalis and then turned back to Cynder. "So… um. Uh, I caught a sheep yesterday… and do you want to go for like a picnic or something?"

Cynder blinked at him. She nervously kneaded the ground with her front paws. Spyro blushing in embarrassment. "Okay," Cynder replied nervously. "So I guess I'll meet you at the south entrance to the temple tomorrow?"

"Yeah, at 2:00?" Spyro replied. "So… is everything okay with you?"

Cynder turned and continued on her walk, Spyro trotting at her side. "Yeah, everything is fine…"

Spyro glanced over at her sympathetically. "I know that most of the other dragons aren't exactly very friendly toward you. They treat Crystalis the same way because of what his dad tried to do."

The two walked on in silence for a few minutes before Cynder said. "Well, you could always tell them to treat me better, or you won't save them all."

Spyro chuckled.

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"So what'd she say?" Sparx asked as Spyro entered their room. Crystalis looked up interestedly.

"What'd who say about what?" Spyro asked walking over to his bed and laying down on it.

"You know who," Sparx said. "Cyyynder."

"Yeah, she did," Spyro said, barely able to hide his excitement, or his nervousness. "I hope I don't mess up."

"You took on the Dark Master's general," Crystalis said. "And you're afraid of going on a date?"

"It's not really a date," Spyro said. "I'm just taking her on a picnic."

"Which is French for date," Sparx put in.

Spyro growled and clamped his jaws down on his pillow. He swung his head around, letting go and sending it flying into the hovering dragonfly. Spyro couldn't help but laugh as the dragonfly was slammed against the wall.

"Was that really necessary?" Crystalis asked, before a pillow slammed into his face.

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Cynder was practically glowing the next day. The prospect of the picnic with Spyro had her excited obviously, but also the fact that she hadn't had any Dark Master-related dreams for days.

Finally, it was almost two o'clock and Cynder had decided to get ready. She wasn't going to get all girly with makeup and the like, cause she wasn't like that and had just settled on wearing a white collar with a black gem set in the front.

She turned around once in the mirror before heading out the door. Cynder headed for the south entrance, her tail flicking back and forth happily.

Her light-heartedness lasted all of two seconds, as she spotted the shadowy caped figure standing at the end of the hall. Cynder's eyes widened in fright before she barred her teeth at the demon, glaring at him. A dragon emerged from a separate room and walked right by the specter without evening looking at it.

Cynder turned and strode down a side corridor, before stopping and staring in fright as the Dark Master was now standing only a tail length away from her. She immediately whirled around to face another hall, but once again the shadow was standing in her way, smirking evilly.

Trying not to scream in fear, or curl up on the floor shivering in fear. Cynder took a step back, getting ready to whirl around and make a run for it. The Dark Master smirked as Cynder blinked, the shadow vanishing in the time it took for her to open and close her eyes.

Cynder spun around, already knowing where the Dark Master had vanished to. Sure, enough he was standing right behind her, but she only saw him for a few seconds before her vision went black and she was sucked into the dark void of unconsciousness.


	5. Too Good to be True

Disclaimer: I don't own Spyro, yadada; I only own a few fan characters, yadada.

Chapter 5

Too Good to be True

Cynder groaned. Voices echoed around her, as she returned to consciousness she could make out some of the words.

"Is she okay?"

"Is she dead?"

"Get away from there, children, she's dangerous," That last remark made Cynder's eyes snap open. She glared up at the source of the voice, an old white female dragon. The dragon quickly pulled her wing over several youngsters and ushered them away as though she were afraid that Cynder had some sort of contagious disease.

Cynder stood up, ignoring all of the dragons clustered around her, asking if she was okay. "I'm fine!" she snapped, pushing her way out of the crowd.

How long was she out? Had she missed her date? A quick glance out the window showed that the sun had risen much higher. She had completely missed Spyro! A mixture of fear and sadness welled up inside her. There was no way that the Dark Master had randomly chosen this time to strike.

"Smart move back there," Cynder spun to face the voice. She narrowed her eyes as she saw the yellow electric dragon, Tara. "After all, we both know that you're not good enough for Spyro, right?"

Cynder glared at her. Tara just looked back smugly. A fresh wave of rage rose in Cynder. She glared at Tara's throat, thinking about how it easy it would be to sink her teeth into it.

Tara grimaced. "Will you stop looking at me like that? Jeez, you really are a freak." She turned and walked off down the hall.

Cynder glanced out the window. She couldn't believe that she had just been contemplating killing Tara. A cold dread spread through her as she wondered if she really was in control of her emotions. "I am not a killer."

_Yes, you are,_ the Dark Master's voice answered. _You are what I made you._

"No, I'm not!" Cynder shouted back at the empty hall. "I'll show you. I'll beat you!"

The Dark Master didn't answer, but Cynder had the feeling that at the moment, he was probably smirking at what he saw as false hope.

"I'll show you," Cynder muttered under her breath and then walked back toward her room. She should probably have gone to find Spyro, but she wasn't sure that she could face him right now.

She entered the room, thankful that Pyris wasn't there. Cynder flopped down in her nest and curled. She didn't fall asleep though; afraid that more dreams would come, but as the hours ticked by, her eyelids got heavier and finally she fell asleep.

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"Hey, wake up," Cynder jumped to her feet. The memory of her nightmare was almost completely forgotten, but she remembered that she had been running toward something. She looked up and saw that Pyris was the one that had awakened her.

"What is it?" Cynder asked, trying to stop herself from shaking.

"Um," Pyris hesitated, before regaining her senses. "The creature that you found woke up last night."

"What time is it now?" Cynder asked, glancing at the window. The sun was still rising.

"Do you want to talk to her?" Pyris asked. "Apparently the creature is female."

"Of course I do!" Cynder shook her head, wondering what had promoted her aggression. "I mean, yes I do."

Pyris frowned, she couldn't have looked more hurt it Cynder had smacked her.

"I'm sorry," Cynder said, looking at the floor.

"It's okay," Pyris said, but Cynder could hear the hesitation in her voice.

Cynder quickly left the room, before she could say anything that would farther distance her from her sister. She made her way to the hospital, flicking her tail from side to side nervously.

Medrin looked up as Cynder entered the room. She was standing on her hind legs and looking over some chart. "Do you want to see your patient?"

Cynder nodded and Medrin waved her through. She approached the small nest that the creature was curled up in. It looked up at her; its blue eyes would probably have looked cute, if they hadn't seemed feral and expressionless. The creature seemed to be assessing how much of a threat she was to it.

"Um, hello," Cynder said, suddenly wondering how smart the creature was.

"Hello," the creature replied, still remaining expressionless.

"So what happened to you?" Cynder asked sitting down in front of the- well it was probably an insect.

"I wasn't originally like this," the creature began. "I was once a proud predator, then that dark specter thing grabbed me and turned me into this weak pathetic form. Then he let those apes of his beat me. If I was in my original form they'd have swiftly become my lunch."

"Do you have a name?" Cynder asked.

The creature cocked her head to the side, her first expression was confusion. "What's a name?"

"It is what other people use to refer to you," Cynder explained. "For example my name is Cynder."

"I see…" the creature said skeptically. "I had no use for such forms of identification in my previous form. We were solitary except for in mating season."

"Well, we need some kind of name for you…" Cynder said.

"Why? I don't plan on staying very long."

"Why not?" Cynder asked.

"I know of someone that will probably be able to reverse my change," the creature replied. "A witch doctor of considerable power."

"Really?" Cynder asked. "Powerful enough to undo something the Dark Master did?"

"Probably," the creature replied.

Cynder tried to hide her excitement. This was too good to be true!


	6. Heartbreak

Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Spyro (actually I just bought the second one.), but I own one, or two characters of my own creation.

Chapter 6

Heartbreak

Cynder kept a close eye on the recovering creature for the next couple of days. She said that it was because she felt responsible for it, but she secretly wanted to find out more about this witch doctor.

She had also avoided Spyro and any contact at all with her friends, afraid that her mood swings would distance her from them, then again avoiding them might have the same effect.

She had been turning over ideas for what she could call the creature and even mentioned a few to her, but she had displayed dislike for every name suggested.

"We've got to call you something," Cynder explained, as they sat in a clearing a few feet away from the temple. "You want to be known as the 'creature'?"

"I don't see any problem with that," the insect replied, hovering a few feet away from Cynder, her face still emotionless, but Cynder was well used to that by now.

"What about Kadie?" Cynder suggested.

She was surprised when the creature didn't straight out reject the name. She actually seemed to be considering it. "I guess that's okay… Now, will you stop bugging me about it?"

"Of course," Cynder replied. "So what was your original form like?"

The newly dubbed Kadie looked wistful as Cynder asked. "I was black, almost the same color that you are. I was also bigger then you and didn't have any limbs. I had sharp poisonous fangs and I could easily wrap around something and crush the life out of it."

"Sounds like you were some kind of serpent," Cynder commented. She was a bit disturbed by Kadie's seeming fondness for being powerful. An awkward silence reigned for a few seconds.

"So you seemed interested in the witch doctor when I brought him up, why was that?" Kadie asked.

Cynder glanced down at her feet. "I've got a problem. You know that dark specter that transformed you? He also controlled me for almost all of my life, only recently was I freed from him, but he still has some control over me. I have nightmares about him every night and sometimes he injures me through these dreams." She held up her front foot, a slash mark across her leg from just the other night was there. "And lately I've been having mood swings thanks to him and he also knocked me unconscious. I'm hoping that your witch doctor can help me break away from his control."

Kadie looked thoughtfully off into the distance. She frowned and looked back at Cynder. "Someone's watching us."

"What?" Cynder shot a quick, casual looking glance in the direction that Kadie had been looking. A yellow glow gave away the figure watching them. "Oh, that's just Sparx. He's annoying, but he's not a threat."

"Why's he spying on you?" Kadie asked.

"Because he doesn't think that I've shaken off the Dark Master's control," Cynder replied. "Or maybe he thinks that I was never under his control in the first place."

"He left," Kadie informed her. Cynder didn't know how she knew this; she hadn't looked up since spotting Sparx.

Silence descended again. Cynder wasn't too interested in trying to carry on the conversation, now that they had talked about her past. Kadie suddenly went rigid. "He's coming back and there's someone with him."

"It's probably Spyro," Cynder said, turning and walking away. She really didn't want to talk to him right now. She leapt into the air and beat her wings, taking to the air and quickly gaining altitude. She glanced down and saw that Kadie had followed, farther below she saw the purple dot that was Spyro.

Cynder flew back towards the temple, landing on its roof; Kadie hovered a few feet away.

"Want to explain why we left?" she asked.

"I don't want to talk to him," Cynder replied. "Because the Dark Master seems to want to keep me form him, I'm afraid he'll make me do something that will distance us."

Kadie looked thoughtful. "But won't avoiding him have a similar effect? It seems like a lose-lose situation, not that I have any experience with relationships."

"Yeah? Well, I'm not going to lose," Cynder snapped, lying down.

"Cynder!"

"Oh, great merciful ancestors," Cynder muttered, looking up into the sky and seeing Spyro descending toward her.

Spyro landed a few feet in front of her. Another awkward silence passed, during which Cynder glanced around, seeing that Kadie had somehow slipped away.

"I heard about what happened the other day," Spyro said. "But why have you been avoiding me?"

Cynder sighed, turning away from him. "The Dark Master wants to rip my life here apart. He can control my emotions. I snapped at Pyris for no reason whatsoever! I don't want to hurt you."

"But…"

Cynder quickly interrupted. "I also wanted to sink my teeth into Tara's throat. Is that normal? Is that even sane?"

She was close to tears now. Her throat tightened as she continued, her legs trembling. "Stay away from me, Spyro. Whatever the Dark Master is doing to me, it's just getting worse."

"But-, but I can't stay away from you," Spyro said, leaning toward her. He rubbed his cheek against hers and Cynder could hear her heart beat quicken. She closed her eyes, sighing contentedly.

Suddenly she felt a burst of rage run through her and before she knew it, she had snapped her jaws shut around Spyro's neck and knocked him to the ground. She blinked and quickly pulled her mouth away from his neck. His neck was bleeding badly, but it didn't look fatal.

He looked up at her; his expression wasn't one of anger, or fear, but sympathy. She couldn't believe that even after she had almost killed him, he could still forgive her even pity her.

A shrill scream filled the air and Cynder glanced over to find Sparx, hovering a few feet away, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Cynder turned and leapt off the roof, she opened her wings and let them carry her towards the forest. Tears streamed form her eyes the whole way.


	7. The Departure

Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Spyro, or its assorted characters and concepts, just a few original characters and the concept of this fanfic.

Chapter 7

The Departure

Cynder kept flying until her wings ached. She flew in a circle making sure no one had followed her and then landed, though it looked more like she had dropped to the ground.

She lay down at the base of a tree, the large roots hiding her from view. She breathed in deeply, her lungs starved for air after her flight.

Looking around, she saw that she had landed in a marsh. Giant lily pads floated in the marshy water in front of her and she wouldn't have been surprised if they were able to support her weight. A fluffy white bird was walking on extremely long legs through the marsh; it suddenly snapped its head forward and impaled a fish on its long beak.

"Those birds are delicious." Cynder yelped and jumped to her feet, spinning to face the voice. She relaxed as she saw Kadie.

"What are you doing here?" Cynder gasped. She was amazed that the small insect had even kept up with her.

"Well, you want to go see the witch doctor, so I figured now would be the time," Kadie explained.

"What's the point, now?" Cynder asked, sadly, laying back down and resting her head on her front feet. "I'm going to be wanted for attempted murder now."

"But you said that you couldn't control yourself," Kadie said.

"Yeah and how many of them would actually believe me?" Cynder growled. "The guardians probably would, but the people themselves wouldn't. Eventually, I would be driven out."

Kadie looked thoughtful and stared off into the swamp. "Okay, so you can't go back there, but shouldn't you try to ensure that your relations with any future people you meet isn't ruined by some dumb shadow messing with your emotions."

"What's the point?" Cynder asked. "Spyro was the first to show me any form of kindness. I owe him my life."

"Yeah, well, he wouldn't want you to throw it away," Kadie commented.

Cynder thought about that. What would Spyro want her to do? Probably come back to the temple, he would forgive her, but Sparx would have already spread the word of her attacking Spyro and the whole Dragon Realm would know about it. They might even try and hunt her down; after all it wouldn't take much of a stretch of the imagination to believe that she had rejoined the Dark Master.

_"You should rejoin me," _The Dark Master's voice purred in her mind. _"You have no other place to go. I shall welcome you back with open arms and someday I shall have Spyro under my control as well and you could be together again."_

_Shut up,_ Cynder growled. She stood up and faced Kadie. "Show me the way."

The insect-like creature nodded and hovered off, Cynder followed, glancing cautiously around at the marsh. The trees blocked out the sun and almost made it seem like it was night and Cynder was very familiar with the sort of things that dwelled in the night.

"How far is it?" Cynder asked.

"Not far," Kadie said. "He lives in this marsh."

"Do the dragons know about him?" Cynder asked.

Kadie shook her head. "No, he likes his privacy. He's a bit of a shut-in you see."

"So what does he do most of the time?" Cynder asked, feeling a bit suspicious.

"He creates spells, mainly cures for curses," Kadie replied. "He was cursed himself and wants to get rid of it, but also help people with similar problems."

"You know quite a lot about him," Cynder said.

"Yes, because I listen well and keep my mouth shut," Kadie replied.

Cynder frowned, but didn't say anything more and resumed studying the marsh. It certainly had plenty of plants that looked like they would be useful to a witch doctor. They passed by a few toad weeds, but the plants didn't seem to have any interest in eating Kadie, though a few shot a curious look at her.

They soon came to a small river they would have to cross, Cynder prepared to glide across, when she saw something in the water furtherer downstream. She turned and galloped toward it, it looked like a body, lying facedown and floating in the water. It was wearing armor, that appeared to be worn and had moss growing on it. The body had apparently been there a long time; it was lodged on a tree root that grew out from the bank.

Cynder shook her head and turned away. She heard a slosh of water and instinctively jumped to the side, a sword stabbing into the ground where she had just been standing. She spun and faced her attacker.

The armored figure was standing now, a moss covered sword griped in one hand, a shield in the other. It raised the sword for another swing and Cynder beat her wings, jumping to the side. Cynder exhaled a blast of flame at it and it jumped back, growling in a voice that sounded a bit gurgled. Cynder swung her tail at the warrior, she hit its waist and its legs were knocked away!

It didn't seem too trouble by the loss of its lower body and floated forward. Cynder leapt over another sword swing and rammed her horns into its head, knocking off its helmet and revealing the skeleton beneath it. Its black eye sockets gazed sightlessly at her and its mouth was frozen in a permanent gape. A horrible smell emanated from it.

The warrior used its shield to bat her away; she slammed into a tree and fell onto the ground. Cynder groaned, dazed from the impact. The undead warrior approached raising his sword to finish her. It growled as something white flew in front of its face. It made a puzzled gurgle as the bizarre insect came into focus and swung its sword at her, forgetting about the black dragoness.

Fortunately, Kadie was very agile and easily dodged the slashes, which became faster and less deliberate as she continued to dodge. The warrior roared in rage.

Cynder leapt at the warrior's back, slamming her horns against the weathered armor. The metal shattered apart, exposing more of the specter's bones. She bit down on one of the vertebrae (it tasted horrible) and pulled at it, ripping it lose, she fell onto her back, the bone still clutched in her jaws. She spat it out, but the disgusting taste still lingered in her mouth.

When she looked up, the skeletal warrior was hovering above her, raising its sword. Cynder growled and released another blast of fire. The creature released a pained gurgling howl and leapt back. Cynder noted that it didn't seem to like fire very much.

She rolled onto her feet and breathed another stream of fire at the skeleton, only this time she kept firing and stepped forward every time the warrior jumped out of range, bathing it in a continuous stream of fire. It finally turned hovered out across the water, out of range of Cynder's fire breath.

It pointed at her and laughed. Cynder growled, narrowing her eyes. She leapt into the air and spat a fireball at the undead warrior. The specter gasped as the fireball hit it in the chest and then violently exploded. Bits of armor and bone fell from the cloud of smoke and flame.

Cynder frowned. "I shouldn't have done that."

"Why not?" Kadie asked. "You killed it."

Cynder pointed at the bits of flame floating on the river. The fire was actually spreading across the surface of the water. "The Dark Master taught me how to do that. I swore never to use it after being returned to normal."

"So he made you use it?" Kadie inquired.

Cynder shook her head. "I didn't even feel him. I mean before there was a spike of rage, but this time I didn't notice anything, no change at all." Cynder's troubled gaze remained focused on the now burning river.


	8. Rancid the Undying

-1Disclaimer: I don't own Spyro the Dragon, just one or two characters of my own creation.

Chapter 8

Rancid the Undying

Cynder glided across the stream. She glanced back at the rapidly spreading blaze for a moment and then hurried after Kadie, who seemed to have sped up. She broke into a run as the insect started getting away from her. "Any reason we're running now?" Cynder asked.

"Yeah, we don't want to run into another one of those things," Kadie replied.

"There are more?"

-------------------------------

The ancient warrior growled. He had awakened, after centuries of slumber; he was finally free to walk the earth again. He pushed his way up, the earth parting before him as he broke free of his tomb.

His steed rose up beneath him. A skeletal yak covered in the same earth worn armor that it's rider worse.

Rancid roared the sound a harsh gurgling noise. He reached down and pulled the spear out from between his ribs. He examined the weapon for a moment. It had been the instrument of his death, but it had also given him this glorious new life. He would keep it and show others the glory of cheating death.

He looked up and saw two of his burly body guards approaching, but where was the third? He asked his question, the sound was an incomprehensible gurgle, but the other skeletal warriors understood.

They informed him that Hellspawn had meant his end in a battle with a dragon near the river.

Rancid looked thoughtful for a moment and then expand his will. One by one his troops rose from their eternal slumber, harkening to their master's will.

----------------------------------

Cynder stepped out into a clearing, ignoring the squish of the mud beneath her feet. She paused, not to glance back at the spreading fire behind them, but to listen. A dark presence seemed to be in the air, it chilled her bones.

A skeletal hand punched through the ground right below her head, she stared down at it for a moment and then leapt back as the body that was attached to the hand rose out of the ground.

It was smaller then the warrior they had faced before and its helmet left its skeletal face exposed. It raised its sword and charged at her. Cynder leapt forward and beat her wings to add extra thrust and rammed her head into the warrior's stomach. Cynder heard a very audible crack as the ghost's ribs snapped. It screeched in pain and stumbled back; Cynder rammed her head into it again and then spun, slamming her tail into it. Several more blows ripped the creature apart, till it was nothing, but a pile of bones and dented armor lying on the ground.

Cynder sighed. Hopefully all the others would be that small.

A roar resounded through the forest. Cynder and Kadie could swear that the wind that picked up was the breath of the roaring creature; the breeze even carried a foul stench.

The two companions gasped as the clearing was suddenly filled with the noise of bodies bursting from their graves. They turned and stepped toward Cynder as though they were all controlled by one will.

Cynder leapt at them, ramming her horns into the nearest as she fell. She beat her wings, flying back and then spun around, using her tail to sweep the nearest enemies off their feet. She spat a wide stream of fire at them before they could get up and set them ablaze. They ran off into the forest, howling in pain.

The small force advanced, more skeletons stepping out of the woods to join them and surrounding Cynder and Kadie. They glanced around at the circle of warriors.

"Can you take out this many?" Kadie asked nervously as the warriors began to tighten their circle around them.

"Nope," Cynder replied, backing away from the skeletons.

"Okay, plan B then," Kadie said.

"What's plan B?" Cynder asked the skeletons were now almost within arms reach of them.

"Fly away," Kadie whispered hurriedly, an edge of panic in her voice.

Cynder glanced over at her and saw Kadie nodded. Cynder nodded back and then they both leapt into the air. The skeletons saw what they were doing and leapt up at them, but they had already beaten their wings and taken to the air.

The black dragoness looked down at the evil horde and spat a ball of molten rock down on them as a parting gift. She didn't stick around to watch it impact and blow several of them apart.

Cynder sighed as she reached an altitude several feet above the trees. Up here, the evil presence she had felt wasn't as strong. She flew a bit higher, desperate to escape it. She already had the Dark Master's power weighing on her, she didn't need anything more.

----------------------------

Rancid growled as he watched the small speck fly higher. He would not let this whelp escape him so easily. He sent a silent order out for his troops to try and locate any of their old catapults. Surely time had not destroyed all of their instruments of war.

Soon, his troops reported that they had found two still functioning catapults. Rancid order them to bring them to a hill, the dragon would be flying by, if it continued in the direction it was heading.

He turned his steed and whacked its side with his spear, the beast galloping forward.

--------------------------

Cynder studied the ground as they flew. The trees' leaves were a mixture of green and purple hues. The marsh was a golden color, reflecting the orange clouds of the sunset. The purple and yellow reminded her of Spyro. She pulled her gaze away from the landscape, but the clouds in front of her seemed to take on the shape of a very distinctive dragon. She glanced back and saw that the fire she had started was at last dying down.

"Look out!" Kadie yelled.

Cynder looked up in time to the see a large rock, flying straight at her. She banked to the right, but it was already too late. The rock slammed into her side and she was sent spiraling through the air. She felt a sharp stab of pain; the impact had broken her hind leg and judging from the flash of pain when she tried to beat her wings, had also broken one of them. She could do nothing to stop herself as she plummeted into the river below.


	9. The Ancestor's Gift

Disclaimer: I don't own the Legend of Spyro series, just a few characters of my own design.

Chapter 9

The Ancestor's Gift

Cynder awoke in worse pain then when she had been awake, the impact with the ground had broken her other back leg, and also fractured one of the bones in her tail. She was lying half submerged in the swamp water. She raised one of her wings, but the other was hanging uselessly by her side.

She used her front legs to crawl up the side of the bank, wincing in pain as her back legs and her broken tail dragged across the ground. She growled in pain.

"Oh, man," Kadie said, hovering down next to Cynder and looking at her. "It's not that bad."

Kadie's expression told Cynder otherwise and she could feel without looking the extent of damage to her body.

Cynder gasped and collapsed onto her side. "Get out of here, Kadie. I don't think they're after you."

"What about you?" Kadie asked. "I'll go get help."

"Who would help someone like me?" Cynder asked, laying her head on the ground.

"Come on, just get up," Kadie said, flying down and pulling on one of Cynder's horns, trying to raise her head. Kadie groaned as she barely managed to budge the young dragon's head.

"What's the use?" Cynder asked. "I'm probably crippled for life."

The sound of moaning came from the forest, it sounded like the skeletal warriors were coming to finish her. Cynder raised her head and looked in the direction that the sound was coming from. The evil presence that she had sensed before was coming closer.

"Well, I'm not leaving without you," Kadie said crossing her arms and staring off in the direction of the approaching army.

Cynder groaned and pushed her front feet beneath and pulled herself in the opposite direction of the noise. There was no way she could run away and her only hope was to find someplace to hide. Kadie was still hovering beside her and glancing back between the cover of the trees and the noise behind them.

She threw herself onto her back and rolled down the slight slope the rest of the way, tumbling over some ferns before hitting something solid. She looked up at the object and saw a light blue glass-like crystal. It was like a tower growing out of the ground.

Cynder slammed her horns into a hole in the crystal and pulled, tearing away the shard of crystal with a very audible cracking noise.

"What are you doing?" Kadie asked.

Cynder ignored her and continued pulling on the crystal. Finally the shard gave way and was sent flying. Two red gems tumbled out of the crystal and then hovered through the air and became light energy instantly being absorbed into Cynder's body. She immediately stood up, strength returned to her broken limbs. She rammed her horns into the crystal, this time more shards broke away and more gems flew out of it, she could hear the skeletons coming. She slammed her tail into the crystal, it finally shattered apart and the last of the gems released.

Rancid growled as his steed tore through the plants and burst into the clearing. He roared at the dragoness and raised his spear. Cynder spun to face him, a purple glow appearing around her as she hovered into the air. She opened her mouth and breathed a stream of purple flames which instantly took the shape of a young dragon and bounded toward the army of undead warriors. The flaming dragon slammed into Rancid, the purple flames instantly spreading across him and then to his steed, then leapt to the other soldiers.

Some of them tried to run, but the flaming dragon cut them off and set them ablaze as well. The purple flames continued to burn, reducing the remains to nothing, but ash, but it didn't spread any farther then it had to and the grass and trees were completely unharmed.

Cynder looked on in awe at what her fury attack had done. She glanced back at the shards of the crystal as though they would offer some sort of explanation for the strange occurrence. She glanced over at Kadie. "Did I do that?"

Kadie nodded. "Uh-huh."

They sat there in silence for a few more moments, watching the flames burn out before turning and leaving.

They took to the air for the rest of their journey, both of them wearily watching the ground for more of the warriors. However, they seemed to have vanished without a trace after their leader's destruction.

"Any idea what those things were?" Cynder asked.

"No, Jirin might have an idea," Kadie said.

"Jirin? Is that the witch doctor?" Cynder pressed.

"Um, yeah…," Kadie replied.

"I was under the impression that you didn't know him, just of his existence," Cynder said.

"Well, I just know his name," Kadie stumbled.

"Are you hiding something?" Cynder asked, suddenly suspicious. She stopped, beating her wings to hover in the air

"Um, no. Yes. Maybe." Kadie mumbled, turning to face her friend.

"What is it?" Cynder growled.

Kadie gulped as she found herself looking up at the suspicious dragoness.

"Well, uh, you see, I wasn't changed into this form by the Dark Master," Kadie said. "I ate Jirin's original assistant and he changed me into this form to take his assistant's place. I eventually got to like this new situation, but not long ago, the apes invaded the swamp and captured Jirin. They said that either I lure you here to be captured, or they kill Jirin."

"So, you were working for him from the beginning!" Cynder growled.

"Yes, but I'm not doing that anymore," Kadie said hurriedly. "I think that you can help rescue him and then Jirin can help you with your problem."

Cynder stared at the small creature, her eyes narrowed. "Why should I trust you now?"


	10. A Broken Friendship

Disclaimer: I don't own the Legend of Spyro, or its assorted characters, just a few of my own creation.

Chapter 10

A Broken Friendship

Kadie fluttered down outside the door to a broken down hut. The windows were lit with the light of the fireplace from within. She glanced around nervously and then hovered over to the door.

The door was pushed open and Kadie found herself staring into the green eyes of a pitch black ape. "So you couldn't lure her here?" it growled in a low voice.

Before Kadie could say anything, the ape had reached out and grabbed her. She yelped in pain as he began to squeeze.

The ape chuckled in glee at her pain, until something black, red, and white slammed into his face and sent him flying back into the hut, causing him to let go of Kadie at the same time.

Kadie looked up at Cynder, who was standing on the edge of the roof. She had just swung her tail right into the ape's face.

Meanwhile, the apes were surprised to find their commander come falling back into the room. He groaned and pushed himself up, finding that Kadie had disappeared. He reached up and touched the shallow cut that sharp tip of Cynder's tail had left on his face.

He turned to see his underlings staring dumbly and snarled at them. "Get out there and get them, you idiots!"

They leapt up and ran toward the door only to have it slam closed on them, all three hitting the solid wood and landing in a heap on the floor.

The ape was now rather infuriated. He stood up and stalked over to the door, throwing it open. Kadie was hovering a couple of feet outside the door.

"Stupid bug, you should have run while you had the chance," the ape laughed and started towards her. He stopped as he noticed that the bug was smirking calmly and appeared to be looking up.

The ape looked up, only to have four scaly feet plow into his face, knocking him to the ground and stunning him. Cynder leapt away and turned to face the now unconscious ape.

"Yes!" Kadie said, pumping a fist in the air. "Thank you for helping me."

Cynder looked over at her. "I'm only doing this to get Jirin's help," she said coldly.

Kadie stared at Cynder for a moment, realizing that it would be a while before she would regain the black dragoness' trust.

Cynder glanced over at the hut as the three remaining, smaller apes filed out of it. She trotted toward them, waving her tail from side to side. The first ape jumped straight at her and was meant with a head butt to the chin. It stumbled backwards and then fell unto its back. Cynder didn't even give the next one a chance to attack and lit it ablaze with her flame breath.

The third ape now realized that its situation was hopeless and turned to run. However, Cynder bit into its shoulder and flung him into the air. He hit the ground with a groan and tried to get up, but Cynder leapt over and slammed her front feet down on his chest, pinning him.

"Where are you keeping the witch doctor?" Cynder asked.

"You know what they would do to me if I told," the ape snarled back.

"Do you know what I will do to you if you don't tell me?" Cynder asked with a venomous tone.

The ape's sneer of anger disappeared, now fearful. He was quite familiar with some of the punishments Cynder had advocated while under the Dark Master's control. "You wouldn't do anything like that," he said, his sneer returning.

"Actually, I would," Cynder said, pressing a paw against the ape's throat and cutting off his supply of oxygen. "You see right now, I'm quite desperate."

Cynder was pleased to see fear again flood the face of the ape. "Where is he?" she asked, lifting her paw off his throat.

"In a cave, not far from here," the ape said.

"I know where," Kadie said. "He stores a lot of his ingredients that need darkness and moisture there."

"Fine, then we won't need him," Cynder said, ramming her head against the ape's and knocking him unconscious.

"Cynder, are you okay?" Kadie asked as she flew in front of her.

"I'm fine," Cynder growled. "I feel just like my old self. Now, lead the way."

Kadie turned and led her away from the hut, casting a nervous glance back at Cynder every now and then. The way she had interrogated that ape worried Kadie a lot.

Cynder glared at Kadie's back. Why should she distrust her? It was Kadie that had strung Cynder along this whole time. She considered just leaving right now, or maybe getting rid of Kadie as soon as they reached the cave. These thoughts didn't strike her as bad, she was too far gone into the darkness, and Kadie's betrayal had been the last straw.

The cave came into sight a few minutes later. The stone was covered with moss and a waterfall fell down in front of it.

"Well, here we are," Kadie said, turning to Cynder. She only barely managed to avoid the jet of flame that the dragoness breathed at her. "What are you doing?!"

"Something I should have done long ago," Cynder snarled.


	11. The Champion of Darkness

Disclaimer: I don't own the Legend of Spyro, or its assorted characters.

Chapter 11

The Champion of Darkness

Kadie dived out of the way of another stream of flames. She turned and headed for the cave, glancing back to find Cynder chasing her.

Cynder shoot another blast of flame at the small creature, but she was already out of range. She beat her wings and flew over the mossy rocks, swooping into the cave entrance.

It only took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the cave's darkness. Kadie was already pretty far down the tunnel and out of breath range. Cynder smirked and then galloped after her prey.

Kadie cursed her new form's night vision. She was afraid that she was going to suddenly crash into a wall in the darkness and flying as fast as she was, the impact would probably knock her out. Her only guide was the sparse memory she had of the cave's layout. She couldn't even see how close Cynder was behind her.

Cynder's paws were silent as she followed Kadie. The soft earth that covered the floor of the cavern muffled her rapid footsteps. Kadie almost crashed into the wall ahead, but swerved at the last possible second and went down a side path.

There were two paths there so the cavern had multiple tunnels; then perhaps Kadie wouldn't be able to find her witch doctor friend. That was good, Cynder wasn't sure she would be able to deal with a spell caster in her current state, maybe after she returned to her more powerful form…

Cynder rounded the corner and stopped. The tunnel led to a massive cavern. The witch doctor was tied up there. The apes had been rather thorough. He was tied down by so many ropes that Cynder could not even make out his species. A muzzle prevented him from even speaking and he was also blind folded.

Kadie was tugging at the ropes, but she was so small that it wasn't moving at all. She looked up as she saw Cynder and then glanced around, seeing that the black dragoness was between her and the only exit.

"Nowhere to go, my little friend," Cynder chuckled, slowly approaching Kadie.

"You don't want to do this, Cynder," Kadie said, trembling as the dragoness stood over her.

Cynder's expression shifted to confusion. "I don't? Why not?"

"We're friends, don't you remember?" Kadie asked.

Cynder's expression just got more confused. One of part of her wanted to crush the creature before her, but the other was fighting the other part off. "I don't have any friends. I am the Dark Master's general."

"You don't remember anything else?" Kadie asked. "You don't remember Spyro?"

"Spyro?" Cynder repeated, her expression going blank. "Who's Spyro?"

"You were like obsessed with him," Kadie said, she now wasn't cringing under Cynder. "You were always talking about him."

Kadie was expecting another question, but Cynder was now staring off into space as though in some sort of trance. Kadie flew up and waved a hand in front of Cynder's face. She didn't react at all.

------------------------------------

(Cynder's subconscious)

She was in Convexity again. She glanced around, expecting the shadowy form of the Dark Master to appear at any moment, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Cynder felt a presence behind her and spun around to find nothing there. She immediately turned back around to find the Dark Master leering at her.

"I almost had you there," he chuckled, his smile disappeared. "But I guess even erasing your memory of the only thing that kept you from turning back to me wasn't enough."

"You'll never have me for long!" Cynder growled. She wanted to leap forward and tear the apparition to shreds, but she knew that the effort would be futile.

The Dark Master stepped forward, calmly approaching Cynder. "Spare me your heroic prattle. We both know that even if that is true, if you don't join me, I'll just kill you."

Cynder just glared back.

"How about this then?" he continued. "If you join me of your own free will, I'll restore all of the memories of Spyro that I have erased. Wouldn't that be worth it?"

"Nothing is worth letting you do that to me," Cynder growled.

"Then you leave me with no choice," he growled, his face twisting into an angry snarl. He extended his arm, it stretched forward, Cynder opened her mouth to blast it with a stream of flame, but the Dark Master was faster. The limb seemed to become semi-liquid and shot into Cynder's mouth and down her throat. She gagged, as the darkness cut off her oxygen supply.

She managed to look up, even as the darkness forced its way into her lungs. The Dark Master looked like he was on the verge of laughing, his expression was pure triumph. Cynder tried to breathe fire, but just found that it increased the pain. She tried to cry out, but it only came out as a quiet whimper.

The Dark Master finally laughed. He could have just morphed his hand into some sort of blade, but he liked this better. Cynder deserved a slow death for daring to defy him.

There was the sound of something sharp and hard slicing through flesh. The Dark Master hissed in pain as his arm was sliced off. There was no blood and the limb almost immediately grew back to normal, though it was now separated from the piece of him that was choking Cynder.

He looked over at the being that had dared to attack him. A black llama dressed in purple clothes stood there, a witchdoctor's mask clutched in one hand, in the other was a sword composed entirely of darkness.

"You!" the Dark Master growled.

The llama quickly walked over to Cynder who was miraculously still conscious, but her vision was nearly blacked out and she couldn't make out the figure that stood over her.

The Dark Master spread his arms and several orbs of negative energy appeared around him and launched toward Cynder and the llama. The llama spoke a few words in an ancient dialect and a black dome appeared around him and Cynder, the orbs bouncing off of it.

"Listen," the llama said, turning his attention to Cynder. "You have the power to save yourself. That is not the Dark Master. It is just a piece of his soul that has been placed within you. I can teach you to eventually rid yourself of him entirely, but first, you have to get that piece out of your lungs."

She tried to say that she couldn't, but the sound didn't even come out. Still the witchdoctor could guess her answer from the rapid jerks she had made and the hopeless panic in her eyes.

"You can if your desire to live is strong enough," he said. "Just think of changing that mass of evil into smoke and exhale it. I'm sure you can do it."

Cynder closed her eyes, tried to shut out the pain, and imagine doing what he had described. She felt the pain begin to die down, replaced by a dull ache as the darkness became nothing, but vapor. She opened her mouth and the black vapor poured out. It felt like forever, but finally all of it was out. A wind momentarily picked up and blew away the cloud of darkness. She inhaled a much need breath of air and weakly turned her head.

The black dome still protected them. The Dark Master was hammering the shield with all manner of attacks, but the dome still managed to withstand them. The witchdoctor finally turned his attention to the specter.

"You are only a small portion of a very large darkness," he said. "I can easily beat you, however…" he turned to face Cynder. "You're the only one that can ever truly remove this fragment and I can teach you how to."

With that said the dome bent outward and wrapped around the Dark Master, encasing him within it.

"Until then, I will suppress his control," the witchdoctor continued.

---------------------------

(The waking world)

Cynder collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. Her lungs and throat felt like they were on fire. "How can he injure me?"

"He's connected to your life force," the voice of the llama answered. "He's grafted himself to it and therefore he can inflict harm to your life force and it affects your physical body."

Cynder looked up to find that the llama's gag had been removed. The piece of cloth was clutched in Kadie's hands.

"Kadie managed to remove my gag," the llama said, somehow looking directly at Cynder, even though he was still blindfolded. "So that I could cast a spell that let me enter your life force and help you. I am, as you may already know, Jirin, the witchdoctor of darkness."


	12. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I don't own the Legend of Spyro, or any of the cool stuff related to it, except for this fic.

Epilogue

Cynder rested on the floor. She was too weak to get up and pull off Jirin's bonds, but the llama seemed to be possessed of infinite patience and in the mean time Kadie removed what bonds she could.

Finally, she stood up and walked over; standing on her hind legs and tore through the bonds with her front claws.

Once he was completely free, Jirin led them back to his hut. The apes that Cynder had defeated earlier were gone.

Jirin huffed in disgust as he saw the state of disarray that the apes had left his belongings in and started placing things back on their shelves. Kadie helped pick up several of the smaller things. When he had enough space cleared on the floor, he sat down, his legs pulled in.

"Um," Cynder hesitated.

"You want help exercising that piece of the Dark Master from yourself?" Jirin said.

"Yes, please," Cynder replied, trying not to let her desperation show.

"It will take some time," Jirin said. "I can not suppress his influence forever. I have merely bought you some time. During which I will teach you how to control the enormous dark power you possess."

"Control it?" Cynder tilted her head to the side. "I don't want to control it. I want to get rid of it."

Jirin frowned. "Of course… Listen, many believe that darkness is inherently evil, but that is not true. The wicked may prefer that sort of power and it be drawn to them, but it can be used for good, too. Your egg was not chosen by chance. You have a great affinity for the dark arts and the Dark Master, of course, believes darkness to be the ultimate power and could sense that power in you. The only way you will ever completely remove the Dark Master from you will be to master your own power of darkness."

Cynder frowned, digesting this information. "So… then I can learn another breath ability?"

Jirin nodded. "I believe so. I am not a dragon, though I have studied their ability to breathe magic, quite a rare power it is and I believe I may be able to teach you how to use it."

"When do we start?" Cynder asked. She was more eager to get rid of the small bit of the Dark Master in her, then to learn a new breath power, much less one that harnessed darkness.

"Tomorrow," Jirin replied. "Right now, I wish to reorganize my possessions and the undead army must also be sealed again. During my captivity, I could not maintain the magic seal on them and I suspect it has broken."

"It did," Kadie spoke up. "We had to fight off some of them on the way over here."

"Oh, that is quite unfortunate," Jirin said, getting up and resuming his cleaning. "It will take some time to seal them again."

"I'll help if I can," Cynder volunteered.

Jirin nodded.

"I'm going to go get some fresh air," Cynder said, stepping outside. She glanced wearily at the forest and then leapt into the air. She flew in circles over the hut, letting her mind wonder.

"Hey, Cynder?" she glanced back and saw Kadie hovering there.

"Yes?" Cynder asked. She felt a little awkward around Kadie, having been trying to kill her only an hour ago.

"Do you remember Spyro?"

Cynder stopped circling and hovered. "Barely. The Dark Master was very thorough when he wiped my memory."

"Oh… Maybe you'll remember once you get that piece of the Dark Master out of yourself," Kadie said.

"Yeah, maybe…"

---------------------------------------------

(The Dragon Temple)

Spyro stood on one of the temple's balconies, staring off into the distance. There was still a bandage around his neck from when Cynder had bitten it.

He sighed and sat down on his haunches. He glanced down at the stretch of grass before him, groups of dragons wondered around discussing with each other. He could hear the conversation of two dragoness directly beneath the balcony.

"Good riddance, I say," the ice dragoness said to her companion. "I suspect that she never really did switch to our side."

"Yes, attacking that poor boy," the earth dragon replied. "No matter what the guardians' claim that Cynder is not to be trusted."

Spyro sighed and lied down, resting his head on his front paws. He sighed, wishing that Cynder was there, or that he at least knew where she was.


End file.
